How Is Diction Used In The Scarlet Ibis

Many children facing his predicament would simply give up, but Doodle’s attempts to succeed prove that he is both courageous and tough. Also, the narrator works to help his baby brother succeed in being a “normal boy,” and he even goes to the extreme in pushing the weak child. This shows that the older brother is motivated to help his brother, but he lacks the care and love that he should be providing. Doodle’s short life is displayed beautifully in this story with the use of characterization by character’s actions.

British politician, Iain Duncan Smith once said ‘“ Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man.’’ Determination is one thing that can get people farther in life. It can help accomplish any job or goal that they want to achieve. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a story about a brother and his determination. He helped his younger brother do things that everyone didn’t know he could do. When his brother, Doodle, was first born, he had been embarrassed to have a brother that could do so little. He then decided to push his brother to do things that would surprise people. Although, others argue that “The Scarlet Ibis” doesn’t have a good story because it's boring. Although, others argue that in “The Scarlet Ibis”, Doodles brother pushed

The “Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a boy born with a medical condition, and his brother, who means well but is self absorbed. The story starts off about a grown man who recalls to the time when his little brother, Doodle is with him. It shows his guilt about Doodle’s death, his sorrow surrounding it, and it reflects on the good times they had together. In the “Scarlet Ibis” Brother is characterized as cruel, caring, and prideful.

Even though Doodle is just an infant, the narrator tries to kill him. Once Doodle gets a little older, the narrator forces Doodle to touch the coffin he was going to be buried in and was threatening him that if he did not do it, the narrator would leave him by himself. The narrator and Doodle’s parents make the narrator take Doodle wherever the narrator goes; pushing Doodle on a wagon. Therefore, the narrator desires to teach Doodle how to walk, so he will not have to take Doodle along everywhere he goes. Therefore, it is obvious that he teaches Doodle how to walk for his own benefit; not Doodle’s.

Many years later, later in the story, when Doodle is around five years of age, it occurs to the narrator that it may be a good idea to teach Doodle to walk so that he fits in with his peers. After finally convincing him, they both secretly set out to teach Doodle how to walk. During this process, the narrator thinks, “There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction...” (10). In this part of the story, Hurst again uses indirect characterization through the narrator’s thoughts, to demonstrate, once again, the theme that disabilities are not flaws, and that they should be respected and embraced. By saying, “...borne by the stream of love,” the narrator is trying to bring out what they have in common instead of their differences, and he is saying that Doodle’s disability does not change the fact that they are connected and share the mutual love of two

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the Brother pushed Doodle to learn how to walk, swim, run and various activities so that Doodle would not seem to be crippled. Through the Brother's characterization, conflicts and eventual resolution, Hurst suggested that one's overwhelming selfishness, pride and cruelty can result in the death of a loved brother.

Older siblings feel obligated to take authority over their younger siblings. The narrator took the responsibility of teaching Doodle to develop into an ordinary boy; however, he supports Doodle out of selfishness. With this in mind, the narrator changes Doodle’s name from “William Armstrong” to Doodle because he believes Doodle is not strong enough to have that name. He believes “William Armstrong” only “sounds good only on a tombstone,” (595) so changing Doodle’s name was the kindest thing he could have done. Likewise, the narrator selfishly disobeys the doctor’s list of don'ts for Doodle because he doesn’t agree with Doodle’s limitations. In fact, the narrator hauls Doodle carelessly around cotton fields and whips him around corners on two wheels of the go-cart. As a result, the narrator decides to take the next step in teaching Doodle. As school approaches, Doodle falls behind on learning to run, swim, and climb. Therefore, the narrator decides to double his efforts and push Doodle even harder. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar. Wherever we

In the scene where the narrator has finally disclosed to his parents that Doodle is now able to walk, he “ began to cry” and the father asks him why he was crying. He keeps to himself that he “ did it for himself” and he “was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (559). Hurst also utilizes flashback in order for the narrator to recall his past actions which he now regrets doing. In the story, the narrator constantly performed cruel actions on his brother which he does not realize himself until that scene where notices that the only reason Doodle was actually able to walk was because he was ashamed of his incompetence. This results in him having flashback later on and led to him realilzing this

At the beginning, Doodle had been very hesitant to go along with his brother’s plans. He tried to argue with his brother. “I can’t walk, Brother,” Doodle said. “Who says so?” He demanded. “Mama, the doctor, everybody,” uttered Doodle. “Oh, you can walk,” The narrator said.” Shortly after that, Doodle began to follow the narrator’s orders and self ambitions. Soon, the narrator had acquired too much ambition, putting Doodle at risk. This is evident with Doodle’s constant cry, “don’t hurt me, Brother.” Little did the narrator know he would be pushing his brother too far. Later in the story, the narrator let his ambition overcome him and decided to keep on pushing his brother. He did not want a brother who could not do what other normal schoolboys could do. He admits to himself, “the knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened.” He believed what Doodle could not do would greatly affect him and his social

Without delay the narrator took Doodle to accomplish more than walking; he taught him swimming, rowing, climbing, and swinging. They would work until Doodle could not do anymore, till he couldn’t left an oar or lift his arm to take another stroke. The only reason Doodle did it because his brother would always say, ‘“Aw, come on, Doodle,’ I urged. ‘You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?’ ‘Does it make any difference?’ ‘It certainly does,’ I said.’’. (52) In the beginning of the story it talked about how Doodle would turn blue and almost black in the face as he was straining just to get up and crawl. Likewise when in the ending he said he knew that he was pushing his brother to run faster and Doodle had never done that before so he was struggling and ended up dying.

Doodle’s brother is one of the characters that illustrates the journey to obtain joy. The author uses imagery to show the brother’s joy as he states, “However, one afternoon as I watched him, my head poked between the iron posts of the foot of the bed, he looked straight at

Pride Overcomes Judgement James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” is about the battle between love and pride and reveals that pride alters people’s perception of loved ones capabilities demonstrated by symbolism. James Hurst’s use of symbolism suggests that the Scarlet Ibis is a symbol of Doodle’s life and his journey to be able to walk, even though his disabilities challenge that. The narrator teaches Doodle to walk out of this embarrassment towards him, all because he isn’t like a “normal” six year old kid. After he successfully teaches his brother, Doodle, to walk he lets his pride and embarrassment alter his perception and pushed Doodle to his maximum capability.

This causes the Narrator to be embarrassed of his brother and want to fix the issue by pushing him to learn to walk. This shows that he is being selfish because he's fixing an issue that may seem like he's benefiting Doodle, although this is true, he is really doing it for himself. Most people do not do, or try to do selfish things to people they know or love. This shows that the Narrator does not care or love Doodle and think he's annoying. At the end of the Story when Doodle dies, we see that the Narrator is very sad and want Doodle back. So he went from being selfish, using Doodle, and treating him badly to loving him and being mournful.This is clear change in the Narrator, further proving that he is a dynamic

Doodle was born with a small body and a huge head, not allowing him to be able to walk. Brother taught Doodle to walk to try and avoid embarrassment at school. “They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother (Hurst 3).” Ever since the age of 5 brother has been ashamed of doodle. He thought that by helping to teach doodle to walk he would not longer be burdened of the humility of having a brother with

Doodle’s family cared about him and wanted him to be the happiest and the best person that he could be. Even living with his condition, preventing him from living a “normal” life. When Doodle’s family discovered that he had learned to walk they were overwhelmed